13 Hours

until Anthony comes home!! I'm soooo excited!! I miss him so much and can't wait to see him!

My new job...

So, my new job is going pretty well. Last week was orientation and training. I sat next to a more experienced employee and listened while they were on the phone, so I could hear how they handled calls. On Wednesday afternoon, I started taking the calls and the experienced employee listened as I talked to the customers. Yesterday was my first day by myself at my own desk. I liked it sooo much better than the training, which was a little frustrating because my trainer would be talking to me while I was trying to talk to the customers. I'm so glad I'm on my own now!

I don't actually have my own desk yet...they haven't figured out where everyone is going yet. So, I'm borrowing a desk from a girl that's in training this week. I'm hoping to get my own desk next week. I also don't have email access set up yet...I've had about 4 calls into the IT department, which has gotten me nowhere. So, it's hard to know what's going on in the company without access to any emails. We had a little team meeting this afternoon and they informed us that we are not to go on the internet or use our cell phone at any time during working hours, unless we're on break or lunch. It's a little weird because there's not much to do in between calls. Who cares if we check our email or look at yahoo news?? Apparently, my new company does...oh, well.

Basically, my job is to set up new gas connections. A customer calls in wanting a new gas connection to their property. If it's a brand new home, we just send them an application by fax or email. If it's an existing property, we fill out an application over the phone. That gets sent to the distributor who actually coordinates the whole job from there. The whole process takes about 6-8 weeks for the actual connection.

And, that's it. We also get enquiries (the Australian spelling for inquiry) on the status of the customer's connection, but that's pretty much it. I'm not sure at this point if this is something I'll do long term or not, but for now it gets me out of the house and keeps me busy during the week :) It's supposed to be a 3-4 month contract, so we'll see how it goes.

For those of you that don't know, Anthony is in the States for training right now. He left on Thursday morning and went to Portland for the weekend. He just got to Chicago today - he'll be there until Friday afternoon, but he won't be home until Sunday morning with the time difference. This is the longest (and farthest) we've been apart since his 2-week training in Chicago a month after we got married. He'll be gone for a total of 10 nights. I'm lonely here without him and I miss him so much. I am glad I have a job that is keeping me busy during the days...I'd be going crazy without it! Anthony has had a bit of a rocky trip so far, but I'll let him blog about that when he gets home (he's a better storyteller than me). He has enjoyed spending time with our families though. I wish I could've gone home with him, but it would have cost about $4000 for me to go, so it wasn't really worth it. I do miss our family though and can't wait to see everyone at Christmas. I'm excited because Anthony's bringing me some essentials from the USA...crystal light, make-up, advil, captain crunch...YAH! :)

We're still waiting for our weather to warm up a little...we've heard that it should start getting nicer by September. I hope so!! I'm really tired of the cold, windy, raining weather...can't wait for the sun! I hope you're all enjoying your summer - I've heard it's been super hot at home!

I got a job!!

It's nothing too exciting, but it's a job! After a lot of dead-end interviews, I finally decided to go through a temp agency here. I interviewed on Tuesday for a call center position. They immediately set me up for an interview at AGL (an big energy company) on Wednesday and I heard today that I got it. It's a position answering incoming calls and it will probably be pretty basic, but it will get me out of the house and I'll be able to meet some new people. It's a temporary position that is supposed to last 3-4 months. There is a possibility of extension, or maybe something else will come of it. It's a huge company and they always have openings in all different departments. I'm very thankful for this opportunity. God is good! Also, the timing is perfect since Anthony will be gone for a week and a half starting next Thursday. It will keep me distracted and hopefully make time fly while he's gone :)

I hope you all are having a great week! I'm counting down the days until our Christmas visit :)

Unexpected Differences (by Anthony)

When moving to a new country, you of course expect many things to be different. I think we did a pretty good job preparing for this fact. We purchased a couple of “How to prepare for life in Australia” type books prior to leaving and we did some other research before arriving. We’ve also kept an open mind throughout the whole process, which has gone a long way toward mitigating any culture shock.

However, there have been many differences that we didn’t expect. We thought we would list a few of the more interesting ones here.

Deodorant – The closest thing I have experienced to culture shock occurred when I realized that the entire country of Australia only uses roll-on deodorant. My first time using it, I thought perhaps this whole international move wasn’t such a good idea. Luckily, I’ve since gotten used to it.

TV times – We did expect several differences in the local TV, but we didn’t expect odd TV time schedules. Just looking at prime-time TV tonight, the shows on one popular channel are listed to start at 7:15, 8:05, 8:55, 9:50, 10:40, and 11:35. Often these listed times are only approximate (the show will actually start a few minutes before or after). One late-night comedian joked at the beginning of his show, “Don’t worry; I forget when this show is supposed to start too.”

Coffee – We’ve had to get used to new coffee styles (eg, “flat white”, “long black”, etc.), but the oddest phenomenon is the widespread acceptance of instant coffee as a genuine coffee option. Nearly every one of my clients (and even my own office) only provide instant coffee in their break-rooms. And often when you are asked if you would like coffee, you should expect that it is instant.

Laundry – Front-load washers are the norm here, which is actually kind of nice. However, the significant majority of households air-dry their clothes. Tumble-dryers are rare (and they are a weaker variety than we are used to in the States). Every balcony in our apartment building has a clothes rack on it. We too are going without a tumble-dryer, which saves space and electricity but requires us getting used to stiff air-dried shirts and towels.

Keep left – We expected to drive on the left. For some reason, we didn’t think that we should also walk on the left. We have nearly bumped into many people (and bikes!) as they are coming towards us and move left while we move right. It’s kind of embarrassing. In keeping with this theme, revolving doors open clockwise (counter to the States) and several door knobs and handles turn the opposite direction that we would expect.

Differences eating out – “Small” restaurant sizes mean really small (US child size) while “medium” is more like a US small (if you can even find small in the US) and the “large” sizes are akin to US mediums (although the “large” McDonalds drink here is the same size as the small at a US Carl’s Jr); You cannot take leftovers home from restaurants; And dinner salads at restaurants are served with the main course – not before.